84702 - Ethical Issues and Social Change

Learning outcomes

Globalization dramatically changed the environment of political and economic activity, widening the context of social action and speeding up its pace. This course intends to tackle the new ethical issues inherent in a globalized world of social change from a theoretical perspective, without neglecting the historical side. At the end of the course the student a) has a deeper appreciation of the new ethical issues facing mankind in an era of globalization; b) has knowledge of the most interesting contemporary theories of the just society; c) is capable of historically situating the current developments in society.

Course contents

The course will address some of the main issues related to current geopolitical circumstances: the one of the just society and the challenge of relativism within multicultural societies; national and international populisms; environmental ethical issues; epistemology of fake news (and possible attempts at regulating that phenomenon); the ethical and political challenges of artificial intelligence.


The course (which has a total duration of 40 hours) is divided into two thematic parts. The first will address some authors and philosophical-political aspects that allow us to frame the above-mentioend ethical issues, which will be critically addressed in the second part of the module. Particular attention will be devoted to the following doctrines:


1) Liberalism (with special reference to the theories of John Rawls)


2) Utilitarianism


3) Kantian-type deontology


4) Egalitarianism

Readings/Bibliography

1) Selected passages from John Rawls' works:

* A Theory of Justice, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Revised edition, 1999.

* Political Liberalism, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. Paperback edition, 1996; Second edition, 2005.

* The Law of Peoples, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

 

2) Luck Egalitarianism

• Elizabeth S. Anderson, "What is the Point of Equality?" Ethics (1999), pp. 287–337.
• Susan L. Hurley, Justice, Luck and Knowledge (2003).

 

3) One of the following books (a more detailed list will be supplied at the beginning of the course)

1. Susan L. Hurley, Justice, Luck and Knowledge, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
2. Martha Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness (part of it), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986.
3. Martha Nussbaum, Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
4. Martha Nussbaum, Creating Capabilities. The Human Development Approach, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
5. Andrea Sangiovanni, Humanity without Dignity: Moral Equality, Respect, and Human Rights, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017.
6. Andrea Sangiovanni, Solidarity, Ground, and Value, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
7. Will Kymlycka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
8. Charles Taylor et. Al., Multiculturalism. Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
9. Elisabetta Galeotti, Toleration as recognition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

Teaching methods

Frontal classes, with the support of powerpoint presentations, in the course of which students will be encouraged to actively participate through discussion and expression of personal views over the addressed issues. 

Assessment methods

Attending Students

 

1) A paper devoted to one of the subjects treated in the second part of the module (max. length 15.000 characters, footnotes and bibliography excluded).   

2) A short oral exam on one of the authors/topics examined in the first part of the module (one book, to be chosen from the list offered at the beginning of the course, or one not included, to be agreed).

 

 

Non Attending Students

 

1) A paper devoted to one of the subjects treated in the second part of the module (max. length 15.000 characters, footnotes and bibliography excluded).

2) An oral exam  (two books, to be chosen from the list offered at the beginning of the course, or one not included, to be agreed).

 

 

 

 

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations and online material will be supplied for each class.

Office hours

See the website of Elena Irrera